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    Manatee County
    Manatee County
    Manatee County
    Ebook205 pages43 minutes

    Manatee County

    By Jim Wiggins

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    The area known as Manatee County opened for settlement at the close of the Second Seminole War in 1841.


    This was due to Congress's passage of the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, which allowed settlers to claim 160 acres of land at a cost of $1.25 an acre if they were able to bear arms and live on the land for five years. It wasn't long before settlers appeared up and down the beautiful Manatee River, led by Josiah Gates and his family on the south side. Many of his friends had suffered losses with the collapse of the Union Bank in Tallahassee and were anxious to join him. The opulent shores on both sides of the river quickly enticed other settlers to make their claims, offering a cornucopia filled with some of Florida's best resources for growth and prosperity. This volume provides a pictorial account of those lives, which were caught in the struggle to carve out a niche against all odds in a place that faced epidemics of yellow fever, malaria, typhoid, and a third uprising of the Seminole Indians. In 1861, Florida seceded from the Union, which was followed by the Civil War with a Union victory in 1865 that brought an end to slavery and plantation ownership.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 22, 2007
    ISBN9781439635391
    Manatee County
    Author

    Jim Wiggins

    Jim Wiggins, MS, PWS, is a systems ecologist and President of a biological consulting corporation, Aqua-Terr Systems Inc. that is situated in the Pacific Northwest. Always asking the questions "how and why" his yearly regional and international travels throughout his life, has provided answers to those questions, and creates new ones. The knowledge he has gained provides depth to his professional and personal life.

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      Book preview

      Manatee County - Jim Wiggins

      pages.

      INTRODUCTION

      Two great Native American nations, the Timucuan and the Calusa, once inhabited the area that was to be known as Manatee County. It was on these same shores that Hernando de Soto purportedly landed with nine ships and disembarked at Shaw’s Point in 1539 with soldiers, livestock, and supplies, moving north along the western regions of Florida until reaching the Mississippi. During the 1700s, the banks of the Manatee River were lined with shacks built by Spanish fishermen drying their catch before it would to be transported and sold in Cuba. It was a land teeming with fish, wildlife, flowing streams, and rich, fertile soil that was waiting to be cultivated.

      It wasn’t long before settlements appeared up and down the shores of the Manatee River. The first arrival was Capt. William Bunce, a resident of Hillsborough County, who set up a fishing rancho at the mouth of the Manatee River in the early 1800s. The rancho employed approximately 150 Native Americans and runaway slaves. The U.S. government frowned on the operation and destroyed it in 1840 as part of the purging of Native Americans in Florida. The shores of the Manatee River were then opened for development by white men who took advantage of the Armed Occupational Act of 1842, allowing settlers to claim 160 acres of land if they met the conditions of bearing arms and living on the land for five years. The yellow fever epidemic in 1841 hit the area hard, so settlers took great caution in making their decision to establish permanent residency.

      Capt. Frederick Tresca and Capt. Archibald McNeil had been trading in the area for several years and raved about the beautiful area and its rich land. They became acquainted with Josiah Gates and his brother-in-law, Miles Price, at Fort Brooke (Tampa) and convinced them to explore the area in 1841. Gates and his family moved there the following year. Several families and friends followed and in 1842 settled nearby on the southern shore to establish a community, which later became known as the Village of Manatee. Maj. Robert Gamble was acquainted with several of the families, including the Braden and Clark families, which, like Gamble, originally came from old aristocratic families in Virginia. They also included the Pinckney Craig, John William Craig, Wyatt, Ware, Ledwith, Reed, and Snell families, who lost everything in North Florida when they suffered financial loss from the collapse of the Union Bank.

      Major Gamble acquired 3,450 acres of land on the north side and brought approximately 100 slaves and a ship from New Orleans loaded with the most modern agricultural tools to establish a refinery that produced about 15,000 barrels of sugar annually. The Craigs acquired 1,560 adjourning acres for smaller productions. Wharves were built up and down the Manatee River, and steamboats traversed the waters to New Orleans and points farther north, returning with supplies needed desperately by the pioneer families trying to carve their niche in this new land. From these families, Manatee County was being born.

      Braden Castle became a refuge for families during a surge in Native American attacks during the Third Seminole War, followed by the Civil War, which brought plantation life to an end. The Gamble Mansion became the hideout for Judah P. Benjamin, secretary of state for the Confederacy, during his daring escape to England. The Gamble and Craig properties were eventually purchased by the Patton and Leffingwell families, who divided the land into sections that were readily purchased by anxious buyers. Truck farming became the major source of income, and a spur railroad was built to Ellenton and Parrish from its western neighbor, Palmetto. Meanwhile the south side of the river was developing as the city of Braidentown (Bradenton) grew and became the central business and cultural center. Communities sprouted everywhere. Trees were cleared, houses built, crops planted, and every inch of land was soon saturated with growth.

      More than 200 photographs from the 1800s and early 1900s are offered in this book to provide glimpses of Manatee County’s rich heritage. Unfortunately not every aspect of early life in the county is depicted simply because of the enormity of the task and because of the lack of credible information or availability of vintage photographs. However, the diversity of life presented in these pages is astounding, and hopefully readers will enjoy getting acquainted with those brave souls who are represented in these pages. Carving out a niche in this pristine wilderness was certainly not for sissies.

      One

      IN THE BEGINNING

      Several factors played important roles in the settlement of Manatee County. First was the end of the Second Seminole War in 1842, which allowed settlers a reprieve from the threat of Native American raids. Second, Congress passed the Armed Occupational Act of 1842, which enabled settlers to claim 160 acres of land if they were able to bear arms and live on the land for a minimum of five years. Third, the collapse of the Union Bank in Tallahassee forced many wealthy plantation owners to move south in search of a new beginning.

      Josiah Gates and his family were the first to make their move to the south side of the river to a place where springs flowed freely. The area later became known as the Village of Manatee. Others followed the Gates family, including Joe Baden, the Pinckney Craigs, John William Craig, the Wyatts, the Wares, the Ledwiths, the Reeds, the Clarks, the Snells, and Maj. Robert Gamble, who came primarily from prominent and wealthy aristocratic Virginian families that had moved to the Tallahassee area. Each contributed to the growth and development of Manatee County, which rapidly expanded to communities up and down the Manatee River. Diseases and the Third Seminole War, led by Billy Bowlegs, made life extremely difficult. But it wouldn’t be long before crops were planted, artesian wells were flowing, and cattle were grazing on open land.

      Unfortunately photographs are not available for many of the earliest pioneers who played important roles in the evolution of one of Florida’s most appealing cosmopolitan areas; however, this does not lessen the importance of their presence in Manatee County.

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